Page 6 of Craving You

“Oh, um…”

He nodded toward the house. “Come on inside and relax. Billie told me you were a little overwhelmed with unpacking. I was going to come up earlier to see if you needed a hand, but I got stuck on a call. Sorry.”

They made their way toward the house. “No worries. I took too much out of storage. Now I need to go through it all and organize it so I can move around without tripping.” Laughing, he shook his head. “I think I was just so excited about having my own place that I wasn’t thinking it all through.”

“That makes sense.” They walked into the house, and Marcus led them down to the finished basement. “Check this out. I got a pool table and a dartboard. We decided having a rec space would be great for entertaining. The only thing missing is a bar. What do you think?”

The bark of laughter was out before he could stop it. “Honestly, I’m thinking who are you and what did you do with my brother!” Max walked around, checking out all the improvements they’d made to the space. “This is all great. A bar would have really been an awesome addition, though.”

“But…?”

Shaking his head again, he explained, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you looking so happy and relaxed. Marriage obviously agrees with you.”

Grinning, Marcus agreed. “It really does. Can I get you a drink? The kitchenette is fully stocked. I know it’s no bar, but we’ve got beer, water, soda…”

“Is the wine upstairs?”

“Yup. We can go up and have a glass, but I wanted to talk to you before Dad got here and without my wife chiming in.”

“Uh-oh. What’s up?”

Grabbing them a couple of bottles of water, Marcus motioned toward the large sectional for them to sit on. “We got the pictures back from the wedding.”

“Wow! That was fast.” He took a sip of the water. “And this is a secret from Dad and Billie why?”

Marcus didn’t respond right away, instead he just had a look of mild amusement on his face.

Very unlike Marcus.

“Dude, come on. I’m clearly missing something here.”

“Billie and I viewed all the pictures last night,” he began slowly. “Multiple times.”

“O-kay…”

“And there’s one picture that made us both sort of…um…it shocked us. That’s the only way I can describe it.”

“You could also describe it by actually describing it,” Max murmured.

Again, his brother didn’t respond right away. This time, he pulled his phone from his pocket and began tapping and scrolling. When he finally got to what he was looking for, he held the phone out to Max. “Here.”

At first glance, it looked like a picture of everyone on the dance floor laughing and having a good time. But considering this was something that both Marcus and Billie had such a strong reaction to, Max knew he was missing something. So, he zoomed in and looked around and…

Found it.

In the background, he and Hailey Donovan were kissing for the first time. He could still feel her soft curves pressed against him and the way she had hummed sexily right into his mouth.

“Care to explain?” Marcus asked, interrupting what was about to become a very sexy memory.

Now it was his turn to take his time answering. Without a word, he handed the phone back and shrugged. “I met a beautiful woman at your rehearsal dinner and spent a very enjoyable weekend with her.”

“And?”

“And that’s it,” he said. “I know she’s Billie’s cousin, but…she lives in Florida and I’m here. We didn’t make any promises to each other, and it seemed awkward to suggest a long-distance relationship.”

“But you slept with her,” Marcus stated.

Max felt himself tense up. “That’s none of your damn business. Is Billie upset about this? Has she talked to Hailey? Is there something I’m missing here? Something I did wrong? Because I can tell you with great certainty that everything that happened that weekend was completely mutual.”

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